Scottish National Racing Pigeon Club Troyes Extreme Distance National There were 83 pigeons entered into the Troyes national this year a small convoy indeed to cope with the arduous task of racing over 600 miles home into Scotland. The birds were liberated at 05.15 on Friday 3 rd July with no wind at the race point and excellent conditions reported on the English Channel. Earlier this year when the idea of returning to Troyes was first discussed it was billed as The Ultimate Challenge and as things transpired this is what this race turned out to be and it most certainly lived up to its billing. It takes a special type of pigeon to race this kind of extreme distance, for a start it must be in supreme condition and have the heart of a lion to endure the many difficulties that befall them on their long journey home this combined with the intelligence and ability to home from long distances covering many miles on their own. 1 st Open 1 st Section E, Ken Buchanan Hamilton. The eventual national winner certainly possessed all of these qualities and more, Ken Buchanan of Hamilton South Lanarkshire timed his outstanding eight year old blue hen Helen of Troyes at 22.02 on the day of liberation to take the top honours. Flying 620 miles she recorded a velocity of 1083 in just over 17 hours the only pigeon on the day. To say that this is an exceptional hen is an understatement she has a tremendous record in distance racing in 2012 she was15th section 61 st open Reims 565 miles in 2013 17 th section 61 open Reims in 2013 she then went back to Arras 472 miles and was 24 th section 88 th open the following year she was sent to the extreme distance race from Ancenis some 593 miles where she was 1 st section 3 rd open this was a very hard race with no day birds with the race winner being clocked at midday on the second day.
Ken Buchanan s family of pigeons are Van Hee based with no breeding stock having been introduced into the loft for the last 15 years this system has certainly worked exceptionally well for Ken as his pigeons have accomplished themselves very well in long distance racing over the years, a few highlights of note are 1 st 2 nd 3 rd 5 th, Lanarkshire Federation Lille 460 miles, 2 nd,9 th,10 th,17 th and 18 th open SNRPC Reims 565 miles,3 rd 5 th and 15 th open SNRPC Tours 605 miles, 3 rd Open SNRPC Ancenis 593 miles, 9 th open SNFC Rennes 32 nd open SNFC Reims, the list goes on! A sure indication of the quality housed in these lofts. Helen of Troyes This special blue hen was sent sitting on 4 eggs, her own two eggs were chilled and not going to hatch so she was slipped another two due to hatch she had no training prior to the race season starting only exercised for 35 minutes round the loft twice daily then two federation races from Thirsk 150 miles and
Peterborough 269 miles and 6 training flights of 45 miles prior to Troyes. As far as Ken is concerned there is nothing like the thrill of timing a pigeon on the day from the channel and should they win a good position well that s a bonus, he would like to give a special mention his old pal that great old fancier George Brownlie who sadly passed away earlier this year when Ken was on holiday. Feeding is 50/50 Champion Supreme and Gerry plus Ken Buchanan Hamilton 2nd Open 1st Section B, John Bell Tranent. It wasn t until 16.16 on the Saturday afternoon when the second open pigeon was timed into the East of Scotland loft of John Bell from Tranent on a velocity
of 602 this further demonstrates what a severe test this race was. John s pigeon is another old campaigner an 8 year old but a cock this time. John is a top class fancier with a tremendous record in national racing winning the Tours national 612, miles in 2010 and was closely beaten from Reims the same year by a yard by Tom Currie of Coupar s great pigeon Jay Jay. John s 1 st section 2 nd open winner is his SNRPC Bronze Champion of last year Annfield Rosco what a tremendous pigeon he has been 2009 16 th section 21 st open Reims,2013 4 th section 12 th open Troyes, 2014 16 th section 18 th open Arras and just to show how versatile he is throw in a 9 th section 13 th open and a 29 th section 40 th open Inland National. His breeding is through his great friend Rod Adams of East Boldon from parents gifted to John straight out the stock loft, now the breeding of these two pigeons contain a host of exceptional North East fanciers with Rod s own UNC winner Little Miss Bourges featuring, also in the mix is Sonny Galloway s Bourges winner, Alan Hindhaugh Busschearts, Herbie Elliot s channel family and Busschaert s from Mr & Mrs Porter of Ilford.This latest win for Rosco will qualify him for a Silver Award this year. He was raced on Roundabout and had every club race including Billericay inland national, no training and was exercised round the loft.
John Bell Tranent 1 st section 2 nd open Annfield Rosco 3 rd Open 1 st Section C, John McKenzie Anstruther. Jock is another very experienced and successful fancier who has been winning in the nationals for many years. He timed the same 3 year old dark chec cock that was 4 th open 2 nd section at last season s Ancenis national again another very tough race but at over 617 miles I guess they are all tough! Great Kingdom bloodlines featuring here in this boy s pedigree a Jimmy Hamilton and Jock Trail cross you can t get any better than that for distance racing. The sire is a dark cock and the grandsire was bred from a full brother and sister pairing. The dam of the 3 rd open winner is a blue hen bred from a son of Jocks noted Golden Pair which have produced many 500/600 mile prize winners when he was paired to a red pied hen that won the section out of SNRPC Wanstead Flats national into a sticky north east wind, she in turn was bred from a daughter of the golden pair when paired to the cock who won 1 st section 2 nd open Tours over
600 miles, this 2 nd open Tours cock was also from the golden pair so it s understandable just how much Jock values these bloodlines. Jock was delighted with the condition his pigeon returned home, a clear indication of how well the pigeons are looked after by the convoying team and he would like to congratulate Ken Buchanan for an outstanding performance. Jock McKenzie Anstruther 1 st section C 3 rd Open 4 th Open 2 nd Section C Penman & Grubb Thornton This is another very good channel pigeon having won previously, as a 2year old he was 138 th open Arras the following year 50 th open Arras in 2014 he was sent to Reims where he won 47 th open the same year he went back to Arras and was 77 th open to all these positions he was sent on his favourite nest position sitting a 6 day old youngster. He had 5 races up to Huntingdon 293 miles where he was
11 ½ hours on the wing this was followed by four 16 mile and one 35 miles training tosses. He was bred by Pete Penman senior off a red cock 1st fed 6th open SNFC Reims paired to a blue pied hen from Steven Aitcheison of Eyemouth out his Pol Boston lines. Pete Penman of the Penman & Grubb partnership with their 4th open winner 5th & 6th Open 3rd & 4th Section C, John Proctor Kirkcaldy. To have two pigeons drop together in this type of race at 19.18 the following day is quite incredible even for John Proctors standards what a fantastic achievement. This must have given John great pleasure and satisfaction to time
these two great birds he is a past winner of two nationals from St Nazaire and Tours but I guess he rates this performances up there with any of his previous successes. The first in the clock a 5 year old chec pied cock he was bred by Jim Anderson of Cardenden and given to Johns brother he is 100% Steve Wright Jan Aarden he had 4 races up to Huntingdon and 4 training tosses at 35 miles and was sitting 13 days before being sent to Troyes. His previous wins include 44th section 103rd open Billericay and 31st open Reims he was sent to Ancenis in 2014 but returned out of race time. Johns second timer is a two year old grizzle cock his sire was red cock a Bob Blyth pigeon bred from his Jimmy Keir lines and his dam was a white grizzle hen who was 7th open Reims for John. John Proctor with Grandson Bailey 7th Open 2nd Section B, Stuart Young Bonnyrigg. Stuart Young of Bonnyrigg Midlothian is a fancier who is no stranger to the winner s podium having had many successes spanning a long career in Scottish
long distance racing and when these difficult types of very hard races come along fanciers like Stuart seem to come into their element. This 6 year old dark cock has been over the channel six times and scored 23 rd open in last season s SNFC Alencon this was another difficult race with only 29 birds on the result. His sire was bred by Stuart s good friend and great distance fancier John Ellis of Wellbank Dundee and the dam is down from Dennis Dall breeding he had 3 races from Wakefield, Peterborough and Wetherby prior to Troyes and was raced natural sitting on 15 day eggs. Stuart Young Bonnyrigg. 8 th Open 5 th Section C Davy Burns Kirkcaldy In 8 th open we have one of Scotland s finest exponents of distance racing Davy Burns of Kirkcaldy; Davy is so consistent from these types of races you just know he is going to be featuring somewhere in the results (and more often than not near the top) and it would appear the harder the race the better seems to suit this outstanding family. Davy has produced this loft of top distance performance pigeons by years of careful breeding from his Dennis Dall of Ladybank pigeons.
The sire of this hen is a grandson of Davys 3rd Open La Ferte Bernard winner paired to a direct Dennis Dall hen. This small 5 year old blue hen was 3rd open Troyes in 2013, 621 miles and 24th open Reims in 2014, 564 miles, she had 3 races up to Huntingdon and sent of 12 day eggs. Davy Burns Kirkcaldy 8th Open 5th Section Well these are the 8 super racing pigeons that made the result and the owners of these birds should be immensely proud of what they and these outstanding pigeons have achieved especially the 1st open winner of Ken Buchanan which must rate as one of the finest long distance performances ever in the history of Scottish pigeon racing.
In my position as press officer for the Scottish National Racing Pigeon Club I feel very privileged writing about these great fanciers and their pigeons I only hope I have done them some justice. Duncan Knox Press Officer